Mo Donegal Emerging as a Favorite in 2022 Kentucky Derby
(DES MOINES, Iowa) April 26, 2022 — Donegal Racing’s Mo Donegal has not only qualified for
the Kentucky Derby, the three-year-old—owned by several partners including Elise Wright and
Megan Hartrich, of Newton, Illinois through the Picquet family of Albany, Texas—is quickly
gaining plaudits as a favorite to capture the first jewel in this year’s Triple Crown.
Mo Donegal cinched his Derby berth with an upset, off-the-pace win in the Wood Memorial
Stakes on April 9 at Aqueduct in Queens, New York. At one point, Mo Donegal (pictured above)
slipped into last place before starting his roaring surge at the far turn. As others faded, Mo
Donegal pressed and caught the leader, Early Voting, in the home stretch near the finish line for
the win by a neck.
Jerry Crawford, CEO of Donegal Racing, says the agile, athletic horse is well-suited and
prepared for the heavy traffic of the Kentucky Derby, which features a field of 20 horses.
“A recent article said that he has the fastest closing fractions in the country by quite some
margin,” Crawford notes. “At Aqueduct, he closed 12 lengths. No other horse did that in any race
on that track, while we were there. I’m optimistic for the mile and a quarter on May 7th
.”
“We have great confidence in Mo Donegal, more than any other horse we’ve brought this
far,” Crawford emphasizes.
Post time for the 2022 Kentucky Derby is 6:57 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 7, at Churchill
Downs in Louisville, Kent. The race started in 1875 and has run without interruption since. (The
2020 race was postponed until September of that year.) The Derby record for the 1.25 mile race
is held by Secretariat, achieved in 1973.
Donegal Racing was founded in 2008 by Jerry and Linda Crawford. The group identifies horses
with the qualities and genetics most likely to produce stakes-race-winning horses with an eye on
competing in the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown. Three other Donegal horses have made it
to the Derby and enjoyed successful stakes careers: Paddy O’Prado, Dullahan and Keen Ice.
